Amazon Prime Instant Video expands its library with even more video from PBS

PBS has been down with Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service since it launched, and now it’s providing even more all-you-can-eat video for streaming under an expanded agreement. Naturally that means lots of episodes of NOVA and Antiques Roadshow, and “for the first time on digital video”, 200 episodes of The French Chef with Julia Child. According to Amazon, that puts its total number of selections over 12,000, more than double the amount of content it launched with. It still has a ways to go to match Netflix, but with a lower yearly price, sweet shipping deal and now the ability to teach you how to make an omelet, Amazon has developed a very compelling alternative.

Continue reading Amazon Prime Instant Video expands its library with even more video from PBS

Amazon Prime Instant Video expands its library with even more video from PBS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YouTube insult generator lets you search for the perfect retort

There is something about anonymity on the internet that turns ordinary every day people into lumpy faced trolls. People can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to insulting someone else’s work or opinion. It is enough to make one pull the Ethernet cord from the wall sometimes. Trolling is the dark underbelly of the […]

Transformer Prime gets official landing page, shows mostly bezel

After getting its first showing at AsiaD, we know ASUS’ Transformer sequel is super thin, powered by NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip and coming soon. And now we really know it, because the Transformer Prime has been gifted an official landing page, along with a requisite shadowy product shot. There’s no trace of the original’s mocha hues, which have been replaced with something brighter, and we think it looks mightily enticing. Those with a similar fetish for modular tablets can ensure they’re up-to-date by bookmarking the source link below.

Transformer Prime gets official landing page, shows mostly bezel originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid Life  |  sourceASUS  | Email this | Comments

Smart Cover can unlock password-protected iPads running iOS 5 (video)

Psst. Hey, do you carry a spare Smart Cover around with you? Well, if you’re an unscrupulous sort, you can actually use it to bypass the lock screen of any iPad running iOS 5. This multi-step security hole will let you browse whatever’s running behind the passcode screen, whether that’s email, apps or the homescreen. To take advantage of the flaw, hold down the power button on the locked device until the power off slider appears, then whip the Smart Cover on, open and tap cancel. Fortunately for iPad owners, the rest of the tablet remains locked-down, but the main problem here is any sensitive information left on-screen. If you unlock the tablet to the main screen, you won’t be able to open new apps, although anyone feeling particularly nefarious can apparently delete apps from that meticulously arranged home screen. See how it’s done in the video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Smart Cover can unlock password-protected iPads running iOS 5 (video)

Smart Cover can unlock password-protected iPads running iOS 5 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  sourceApfelTalk Forums  | Email this | Comments

HP’s chief strategy officer to retire next month, won’t have a successor

Remember Shane Robison, the HP exec who advocated for the survival of webOS following the company’s decision to dismantle its hardware unit? Yeah well, he’s about to make an exit. HP confirmed yesterday that Robison will retire from his position as executive VP and chief strategy and technology officer on November 1st, after spending eleven years at the company. In a statement, HP praised Robison for spearheading much of its R&D and several high-profile mergers during his tenure there. “In his role, he was responsible for shaping HP’s corporate strategy and technology agenda,” the company said. “He was instrumental in steering the company’s multibillion-dollar research and development investment and has led many of the company’s largest merger and acquisition activities.” Newly minted CEO Meg Whitman, meanwhile, described Robison as a powerful innovator and lauded his role in guaranteeing “that innovation continues at HP.” Perhaps the bigger story, however, is the fact that the firm doesn’t plan on filling Robison’s shoes. In the announcement, HP confirmed that his position will be dissolved as part of “an effort to drive strategy, research and development closer to the company’s businesses.” The implications, of course, remain to be seen. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading HP’s chief strategy officer to retire next month, won’t have a successor

HP’s chief strategy officer to retire next month, won’t have a successor originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Show is live tonight, with Intel, New York Comic Con, haunted houses and more!

The Engadget Show! It’s tonight! Live at 6PM ET! If you’re in New York City, we’ve got a few extra tickets left over. If you’d like to attend, email jon dot turi at engadget dot com including your full name and confirmation that you can show up tonight. Do it quick enough and we’ll save you a seat. Also, yes, we’ll be in costume and we expect you to be as well.

If, however, you’re not lucky enough to join in on the fun in person in NYC, you can follow from home right here.

This time out, we’ve got a very special Halloween episode, including a walk through of a high-tech haunted house, a trip to New York Comic Con, an in-studio costume contest and the unveiling of the winners of our Frankengadget competition. We’ll also be visiting with Intel’s resident futurist, paying tribute to Steve Jobs and taking a look at the month’s hottest gadgets.

Subscribe to the Show:

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The Engadget Show is live tonight, with Intel, New York Comic Con, haunted houses and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Helpful Tip: Drag and Drop Using Exposé

This article was written on October 21, 2008 by CyberNet.

arrow Mac Mac only arrow
mac expose.pngSeeing that Ashley and I are still relatively new to the Mac world we are still finding some little gems that demonstrate Apple’s eye for detail. A fine example of this is something I saw on the help page Apple developed to explain what Exposé is. It was there that I found out you can drag and drop files from one window to another using Exposé:

If you need to drag a file from one window to another, start dragging the item, press F9 to see all windows, drag the item over the target window until the window becomes active, or press F9 again, and drop in your item.

If you need to copy elements between two windows in the same application, start dragging the item you wish to copy, press F10 to display all open windows for that application, drag the item over the target window until it becomes active or press F10 again, and drop it.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s come in handy for me on numerous occasions. Having the ability to drag and drop using Exposé means that I no longer have to think about placing the two windows side-by-side before performing this operation. Plus you can make it a little more useful by putting these tips to use:

  • Setup a hotcorner that will launch Exposé. That way you don’t have to worry about pressing the Exposé shortcut on the keyboard.
  • Instead of hovering over a program in Exposé and waiting for it to become active you can press the Spacebar to immediately be taken to that application.
  • This trick also works with the shortcut that shows your desktop (F11). It makes dragging items to/from your desktop a breeze.

When I first started using a Mac getting accustomed to using Exposé felt like more of a chore than anything. I have to admit that it has really grown on me though, and I now use it all the time.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Georgia Tech spies on nearby keyboards with iPhone 4 accelerometer, creates spiPhone

Ever plopped your cellular down next to your laptop? According Georgia Tech researchers, that common scenario could let hackers record almost every sentence you type, all thanks to your smartphone’s accelerometer. They’ve achieved the feat with an impressive 80 percent accuracy using an iPhone 4, and are dubbing the program they’ve developed, spiPhone. (Although the group initially had fledgling trials with an iPhone 3GS, they discovered the 4’s gyroscope aided in data reading.) If the software gets installed onto a mobile device it can use the accelerometer to sense vibrations within three-inches, in degrees of “near or far and left or right,” allowing it to statistically guess the words being written — so long as they have three or more letters. It does this by recording pairs of keystrokes, putting them against dictionaries with nearly 58,000 words to come up with the most likely results.

The group has also done the same with the phone’s mics (which they say samples data at a whopping 44,000 times per second vs. the accelerometer’s 100), but note that it’s a less likely option given the usual need for some form of user permission. Furthermore, they explained that the accelerometer data rate is already mighty slow, and if phone makers reduced it a bit more, spiPhone would have a hard time doin’ its thing. The good news? Considering the strict circumstances needed, these researchers think there’s a slim chance that this kind of malware could go into action easily. Looks like our iPhone and MacBook can still be close friends… For now. You’ll find more details at the links below.

Georgia Tech spies on nearby keyboards with iPhone 4 accelerometer, creates spiPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Physorg  |  sourceGeorgia Tech  | Email this | Comments

Opera’s Speed Dial in Firefox…You Knew it was Coming!

This article was written on May 07, 2007 by CyberNet.

Opera hyped their Speed Dial feature before they announced what it was by saying that it was something that no other browser had. This got a lot of people thinking about what it could be, and when they finally revealed the details I wasn’t disappointed. After Opera 9.2 was released with the Speed Dial feature in full swing I knew it wouldn’t be long before a Firefox extension was created to do something similar.

The Speed Dial feature is a time saver because you can create up to 9 sites to be displayed as thumbnails whenever you create a new tab. In Opera if you click the refresh button while viewing the Speed Dial page it will refresh the thumbnails of all the tabs so that you can see if anything has changed since the last time you visited the sites.

The Firefox extension, cleverly called Speed Dial, tries to provide the basic functionality that Speed Dial in Opera offers. For starters here is what it looks like:

Firefox Speed Dial

It looks pretty close and serves a similar purpose, but it still lacks a lot of the things that makes Speed Dial great in Opera. Here are some things that you can do in Opera that you can’t do with this Firefox extension:

  • Drag around the thumbnails to rearrange the order of the sites.
  • Click on an unassigned spot to add a URL or bookmark.
  • Refresh the screenshots.
  • Have Speed Dial displayed each time you create a new tab. Well, you can do this in Firefox but it takes some extra work and another extension. With the right extension you can set your homepage to “chrome://speeddial/content/speeddial.xul” and have it opened each time you create a new tab. That’s quite a bit of extra work though.

In order to set a Speed Dial site with this Firefox extension you either have to add a toolbar button that is provided, or use the right-click menu entry that is available:

Firefox Speed Dial Menu

This has both its upsides and downsides. The upside is that you can quickly add whatever site your currently viewing to your Speed Dial, but the downside is that the sites always have to be added in this fashion. In Opera you can add sites straight from the Speed Dial page which is something I prefer to do.

This extension is still in the very early stages though so I would expect that it will get better over time. I am, however, surprised that it took this long for an extension like this to surface though.

Download the extension from the developer’s site
Download the extension from Mozilla (requires login for Sandbox mode)

Thanks for the tip Fox!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Microsoft talks Windows 8 portrait mode, really wants you to be proud of it (video)

Windows 8 in portrait mode

If Apple is that paranoid friend that has four deadbolts on his door and a loaded weapon in every room, then Microsoft is the over-sharer who tweets where, when and what he had for lunch — including both before and after photos (and we’re not talking about pictures of a clean plate). Redmond wants you to know about everything it does — no accomplishment is too minor for a lengthy explanation of the what and why. Take for example, portrait mode. Windows 8 will have one. We know what you’re thinking, “well I would frackin’ hope so,” but the devs want you to know this isn’t just some feature they slapped in the OS knowing people would expect it. The team studied users both familiar with and new to the tablet form factor. They looked at grip, posture and when people chose to rotate their slates. And, if you’re some weirdo who likes reading things on their side, there’s a rotation lock option. For more details hit up the source link and the video after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft talks Windows 8 portrait mode, really wants you to be proud of it (video)

Microsoft talks Windows 8 portrait mode, really wants you to be proud of it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear, WinRumors  |  sourceBuilding Windows 8  | Email this | Comments